Sieves & Colanders
Available in metal or plastic. Metal is generally far more hard wearing and practical. Sieves, used for sifting, straining or puréeing, can be bowl shaped, conical or flat bottomed. Plastic sieves with a nylon mesh are best for sieving acidic fruit when making jam as they do not taint the flavour of the fruit.
Bowls
Available in plastic, glass, stainless steel or ceramic varieties. Ceramic and glass bowls are the most expensive but can double as pudding basins. Plastic or melamine bowls are light and easier to stack and store. Stainless steel bowls are more hard wearing. Choose ones with rounded sides rather than straight sides, and a flat stable base.
Chopping boards
Available in wood and plastic. A chopping board should be big enough to hold the chopped food. A channel around the outside drains away any of the juices. Plastic boards can be more thoroughly cleaned. To avoid contamination of food, keep different boards for chopping different ingredients.
Measuring jugs and spoons
Essential for successful recipes. Buy ones which have both metric and imperial measurements. Clear, toughened glass jugs are the best as they can withstand boiling liquids and the level can be seen more easily. Measuring spoons give exact quantities for tablespoons, dessert spoons and teaspoons.
Graters
The most common grater is the four sided one with a variety of different graters. You can also buy special graters for different tasks. Parmesan cheese graters are small and shovel shaped. A nutmeg grater has small sharp-edged cutting holes to break down the tough exterior of the nut. Long handled graters are for grating citrus rind.
Juice extractors
Can be used for squeezing oranges, lemons and limes. the 'teeth' around the bottom of the ridged dome collect the pips. Some squeezers are available with a strainer and a jug underneath to collect the juice. A small lemon press will squeeze the juice from individual wedges of lemon.
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